Mary Moe presented a 5 minute vocational talk about herself. She was gracious enough to share her talk with me for the newsletter.
On February 5, 2010, I got some news that ended my 38-year career in education. I didn’t see it coming. I was Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education at the time, traveling all over the state to have difficult conversations with faculty about common course numbering and with campuses and community college boards about trying to act more like a system.
I was so busy I hadn’t had my annual physical done for maybe two years. But I could tell something wasn’t right. I’d be sitting in meetings on complex topics thinking about one thing only: How do I keep my head from just crashing down on this table? I was busy, but I’ve always been busy. I’d never been exhausted like this.
And lately, I’d noticed this little protrusion sticking out of my stomach, kind of like a baby’s elbow when you’re pregnant. I know, I know. I was nearly 60. Very unlikely I was pregnant. But read the Bible: it happens.
Finally, I went to the doctor. She ordered some blood work and an MRI on my stomach. The day the results came in, she called me at home all panicky. My blood counts were off the charts and that protrusion in my stomach? My spleen was 5 times the normal size. I needed to get up to the Sletten Cancer Institute at once. I was in the advance stages of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. That was February 5, 2010.
The cancer specialists told me they’d try some meds to get the blood counts down but I’d probably need a bone marrow transplant. The good news is that a sibling is your best possible donor and I have 10 siblings. The bad news is I probably shoula treated them a whole lot better growing up.
I tried to keep working because I thought we needed the money. We had a new house. Kids who still needed help. Our first grandchild. But I was just not on my game. Finally my husband sat me down and showed me that I’d be making almost as much money if I retired as I was making now. For some reason, that just clicked. I retired on November 1. I went home and read books and listened to music and watched the snow fall all winter long.
But you know how spring is. The snow stopped falling and I started thinking about that scene in Step Mom when Julia Roberts asked Susan Sarandon, “Are you dying?” And Susan Sarandon takes a big pull on her medical marijuana joint and says, “Not today.”
And I started thinking about something my mom always said when one of us was bemoaning our lot in life. “You need to get outside of yourself. A lot of people in this world are worse off than you. Go help them. It’ll do you good.”
So in 2011 I ran for the Great Falls school board and got elected. And in 2014 I ran for the legislature and got elected. And in 2017 I ran for the city commission and got elected. But the most impactful thing I did 11 years ago pretty much today was join Rotary. That got me outside myself.
The Great Falls club is quite large and very active. They’ve got Camp Rotary to maintain and the Harvest Howl to raise funds for the camp and a dictionary project and Boy Scout Recognition and lots of other ad hoc service projects. I like that.
I also really like the 4-way test. I used it a lot in the offices I held and it’s a great guide.
But mostly I like what happens when you just come to Rotary. You see one another just one day a week, have a meal together, listen to a speaker. It seems like nothing special at the moment. But over time you see people going through things you once went through or will go through. You get to see how different people’s talents and priorities are and yet how common the experiences that matter are. You learn how to appreciate just the day-to-day heroism that is always all around you.
I’m in remission now. I’m on these chemo meds that make mealtime a little dicey. About 9 months ago my husband and I decided we didn’t want to be just holiday grandparents, the kind you see at Easter and Christmas but otherwise aren’t part of your lives. I have triplet grandchildren in Florida but living outside Montana is just not in my DNA. I have two grandchildren here in Missoula, so here we are.
So I’m starting over again, in a new community in a new house and now, in a new Rotary club. It’s a little harder than I thought it would be. But once I get outside myself, I’ll be just fine and I’m hoping you’ll help with that.
In the meantime, sure, I’m dying. We all are. But not today!
Our speaker last week was Bill Tobin from Shelterbox. Shelterbox was founded in 2000 by a Rotary Club in England. In 2012 Shelter box partnered with Rotary International as a global operation to save lives and help in disaster relief. Bill shared that there are a tot. al of 108 items that can be supplied in the boxes. There are several tent options and was they changed to tarp material. Some people use it for tents and some use it as roofing tarp for their homes. 
Bill said that many of the items get adjusted and upgraded, such as a water filter. Recycling materials and reducing the plastic waste made them look at how their products are packaged. Rugs were added to several tents to help keep families from laying in dirt or rocks. During the COVID pandemic they supplied soap and water buckets so people could wash their hands frequently. However, travel during the pandemic was a challenge so they reached out to various partners to be ambassadors around the world. 
Moldovia where many refugees fled to does not have a Rotary presence and were the least prepared for the refugees. War, floods, natural disasters and a variety of conflicts around the world have reached out to Shelterbox for assistance. 
Shelterbox has been nominated at least 2 times for a nobel peace prize. The United Nations help with shelter kits but have been bombarded with the need for rapid response. Countries where they need to reach during crisis recently are Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Phillipines, etc. are being helped. The problem is that there are more disasters everyday and providing Shelterboxes around the world takes time and money. Rotarians have stepped up to give towards helping those in need and are a great partner for this organization to work with. Our Rotary club raised money a couple of years ago and were able to donate two Boxes towards Haiti which was devastated by hurricanes. We were awarded a certificate of recognition for our contribution. 
The Rotary Club of Missoula (RCOM) in conjunction with Rotary Club of Missoula Sunrise sold pies this fall to support the renovation of the Westside Community Park. The Rotary Club of Missoula raised $1,400.00 selling pies. The club supplemented the proceeds with an additional $750.00 from the club’s own funds and the Missoula Rotary Foundation provided a matching grant for $650.00 to bring the total donated from the RCOM to $2,800.00. Sunrise Rotary raised $650.00 selling Pies and The Missoula Rotary Foundation provided a matching grant of $590 to bring the total donated by Sunrise to $1,240.00. this brought the grand total donated by the clubs and the Foundation to $4040.00 dollars for completion of the Westside Park.
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